Jermaine Phillips ; First Mate To Go Down With Ship

Reported from Ira Kaufman, of The Tampa Tribune. Jermaine Phillips was the first to lobby for his Head Coach’s return in 2010.

He may be the only one.

Here’s what Phillips had to say,

Raheem is going to be just fine … just bear with him,’’ Phillips said Monday. “Before the season starts, we fire our offensive coordinator (Jaff Jagodzinski), so you don’t get a full training camp with the offense you want to run. Then we’re playing a new defense that’s not working. Since Raheem has taken over, you’ve seen the defense is playing better. It’s night and day. We’ve got a rookie quarterback (Josh Freeman), so we know we’re going to have some bumps on the road. You tell me what rookie quarterback hasn’t had growing pains? You can’t judge Raheem off one season. When he got hired, a lot of the good coordinators were already taken. What do you expect him to do? We all make mistakes. Raheem saw his mistakes and tried to correct them.’’

I think Senator John McCain used that excuse…

Phillips had more to say about his team,

I know what these guys put into it, the love they have for the game,’’ Phillips said. “Nobody around here is quitting. You don’t see our guys jogging around, like some players in the NFL. Right now, we’re not getting the results. Right now, we can’t buy a win. Right now is gut-check time for everybody.’’

I think I’m gonna puke.

There are so many variables to whether or not Morris stays with the Buccs. From the Glazers still paying Jon Gruden a cool $3.5 million, to Raheem making so little, will Buccs fans continue to pay hard earned cash for season tickets if he stays? Or will signing some big name coach put people back in the seats? And not only are the Glazers paying the new coach top dollar, they’re also paying Gruden. I wonder what they’ll “bank on.”

I say Raheem stays because of money. Unless the Glazers sell their beloved Manchester United futbol team investment. It’s been rumored that someone has been offering them a nice chunk of change for the club, yet they refuse to sell it. Which doesn’t bode well for Buccaneers fans.